California

California had blackouts in 2020 when a heat wave meant there was insufficient power available as the sun went down and renewable sources shut down. Now California’s energy officials are predicting a repeat this summer if anything unexpected happens.

The explanation for out-migration from the state is delusional

Even the New York Times has to admit unpleasant realities, like the departure of people from California and other deep blue states. But one thing the paper, and other similarly-minded reporters based here, will never admit: the connection between the California economy and regulation and the rising out-migrations.

California’s population has shrunk for the second year in a row, according to newly released figures.

Officials blamed the decrease on declining birth rates, higher deaths from the pandemic and fewer people moving into the state from elsewhere in the US. California lost 117,552 people in 2021, putting its population at 39,185,605, the California department of finance said Monday.

San Francisco lost a whopping 6.7 percent of its population during the COVID-19 pandemic, the second-largest percentage drop after New York.

Since the 1970s, California policymakers have embarked on a land-use strategy designed to promote “urbanism”—the idea that we all ought to live in dense housing developments, that suburban sprawl should be limited by government planning restrictions, and rural land should be protected for farming and open space.

During his first stint as governor, Jerry Brown oversaw a report called, “An Urban Strategy for California.” In it, the state detailed a policy we’ve seen play out in the ensuing decades. The goal was to “create a more compact urban environment” and curb “wasteful urban sprawl” by focusing new construction in “existing cities and suburbs.”